Adjustable chairs



June 26, 1962 P. s. FLETCHER ADJUSTABLE CHAIRS Original Filed Feb. 9, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

CZ Howneys'.

June 26, 1962 P. s. FLETCHER 3,041,106

ADJUSTABLE CHAIRS Original Filed Feb. e, 1956 2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR. Z 656) Szewari 1 592 67787 3,041,106 ADJUSTABLE CHAmS Peter Stewart Fletcher, Delray Beach, Fla, assignor to Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Original application Feb. 9, 1956, Ser. No. 564,473, now Patent No. 2,958,371, dated Nov. 1, 1960. Divided and this application Aug. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 833,861

7 Claims. (Cl. 297-89) This invention relates to adjustable chairs which may be adjusted from a normal sitting position into a tilted position during which a leg rest is elevated to a position in front of the seat.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved tilting chair in which the leg rest or leg-supporting platform is normally disposed below the front of the seat but is automatically elevated into leg-supporting position when the chair is operated into a tilted position; which will have simple, dependable and effective mechanism for operating the leg rest or leg-supporting platform into and out of of its efiective leg-supporting position; which can have accelerated movement of the leg rest for small movement of the seat and back rest; which will employ novel and simple mechanism; and which will be relatively durable, compact and inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of several embodiments of the invention and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a chair constructed in accordance with this invention, but with a side removed by a section just inside the chair in order to illustrate the mechanism employed for extending the leg rest, the parts being shown in the position occupied when the chair is in sitting position.

FIG. 2 is a similar view but with the parts in the tilted position;

FIG. 2a is a schematic diagram illustrating the action of the linkage of FIGS. 1 and 2 used to extend the leg rest;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, except that still 7 another modification of the linkage is illustrated;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but with the parts in their tilted positions; and

FIG. 4a is a schematic diagram illustrating -the linkage employed in FIGS. 3 and 4 to elevate the leg rest.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2a, the chair includes a support 1 having upright side members 2 that are spaced apart but connected by base members 3 and 4. A seat '5 and a back rest 6 are disposed between the side members 2 of the support. A leg-supporting platform or rest 8 is disposed between the side members 2 of the support 1 below the forward edge of the seat 5 when the chair is in its normal sitting position, and this leg-supporting platform is mounted on a lazy tong device. This lazy tong devise includes three pairs of links at each side of the seat which are carried by the support 1 and which in turn support the leg rest 8 and extend or retract it as desired.

In the embodiments of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2a, the back rest 6 and seat 5 are rigidly connected together to form a unit and this unit is provided at the bottom of the back rest 6 with a lug 82 which is connected by pivot pin 83 to the upper end of a lever 84- which is pivoted on a pin or rod 85 carried by the support 1. The lower end of the lever 84 is pivotally connected by a pin 86 to one end of an actuating link 87 which operates a lazy tong device formed of 3 pair of links near each side of the seat.

In this embodiment the leg rest 8 is normally disposed 3,041,100 Patented June 26, 1962 below the forward edge of the seat 5, and is mounted on a lazy tong device having an arrangement of linkage quadrilaterals which support the leg rest at one end and is itself connected to and supported at its other end to the forward part of the support. This lazy tong device includes one pair of links 88 and 89 which are hinged together by a hinge 90, one end of the link 88 being connected by a pin 91 to the support 1. Links 92 and 93 form another pair of links and are hinged together at 94. One end of link 92 is pivotally connected by pin 95 to the support 1, and the tree or other end of link 93 is connected by a pin 96- to the leg rest 8. Links 97 and 93 form still another pair of links which are hinged together at 99. One end of the link 98 is hinged by pin 100 to the leg rest -8 below pin 96, and the link 97 is hinged by pin 101 to the free end of link 89. The link 97 is extended beyond its hinge or pin 101 and the extension 97E is pivotally connected by a pin 102 to the link '93 intermediate of its ends.

The link 93 is provided with an extension 103 which is hinged at 104 to the link 08 intermediate of its ends. This provides three quadrilateral linkages arranged in tandem with the leg rest 8 at one end and the support 1 at the other end, so that when any one of the links is rocked, it will cause extension or contraction of the lazy tong device and elevation or retraction of the leg rest 8. The link 87, which is operated by the back rest and seat unit when the latter is tilted into its tilted position, is connected by a pin 105 to the link 88 between its hinge 104 and its pivot pin '91. Thus, the back rest when it and the seat are pushed rearwardly, will cause an extension of the lazy tong device at each side of the seat, and an elevation of the leg rest 8 to the FIG. 2 position in front of the seat 5.

The seat 5 is provided part way of its forward and rearward edges with a depending lug 106, one at each side or" the seat, and a guiding link 107 at each side of the seat is hinged by pin 108 to the lug 106 and also is hinged by pin 109 to a lug 110 on the support 1. The link 107 is normally approximately upright when the seat and back rest are in chair-sitting positions, but when the seat and back rest are tilted and moved rearwardly into the tilted positions shown in FIG. 2, the link 107 will rock clockwise on the support 1 from its approximately upright position shown in FIG. 1 to an inclined position shown in FIG. 2, which, with the descent of the lower end of the back rest, as shown in FIG. 2, will give a rearward tilting of the seat 5.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be noted that there is a basic tour bar linkage, and an auxiliary four bar linkage at each side of the seat. This basic linkage includes the link 107 and that part of link 84 between pivot 85 and pin 83, constituting opposite links of the basic quadrilateral. The seat and back rest unit is another link in this basic quadrilateral and the frame or support 1 is the opposite and final link in this basic quadrilateral. This basic quadrilateral controls the movement of the seat and back rest unit between sitting and reclining or tilted positions. The auxiliary four bar linkage includes the part of link 84 below the pivot 85, and the link 88 between the pins 105 and 91 which form two opposite links of the auxiliary quadrilateral, and the link 87 and the support which form the other two opposite links that complete the auxiliary quadrilateral. The auxiliary quadrilateral controls the operation of the linkage which actuates the leg rest, whereas the basic quadrilateral controls the movements of the seat and back rest unit, with the link 84 being the operative connection between the two four bar linkages or quadrilaterals. The result of these two four bar linkages connected in this manner is that a much larger acceleration for the leg rest linkage is produced than would be possible with only one four bar linkage, which is advantageous when the seat and back rest are tilted only a small amount and yet full operation of the leg rest is obtained. The links 88 and 92, and extension 193 may be considered with the support or frame as still another four bar linkage, with the link 87 and lower part of lever 84 below the pivot 85 as actuating means operatively connecting two four bar linkages, so that when the seat and back rest unit is tilted out of sitting position, the basic four bar linkage will actuate the leg rest four bar linkage and advance and elevate the leg rest.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 4a, the back rest 6 and seat are formed as a rigid unit, as in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the bottom of this unit below the back rest is provided with a lug 111 which is pivoted by a pin 112 to one end of an upright lever 113 that is rockably mounted on a pin 114 carried by the support 1. The seat 5, at each side and approximately midway between its front and rear edges is hinged to a link 115 which is similar to the link 1417 of FTGS. l and 2, and which link 115 is pivoted at 116 to a lug 117 on the support 1. The seat 5 and back rest 6 move between the upright or sitting positions shown in FIG. 3 and the tilted positions shown in FIG. 4, in the same manner as explained for FIGS. 1 and 2, and the leg rest 8 is disposed below the front edge of the seat, as in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The leg rest 8 is mounted on a modified lazy tong device which includes one pair of links 118 and 119 which are connected together by a hinge 12b, and the link 119 is also hinged at 121 to leg rest 8. Another pair of links 122 and 123 are hinged together by a hinge 124, the link 122 being also hinged at 125 to the support 1. The link 123 is provided with an extension 126 which is hinged at 127 to the link 11S intermediate of its ends. Links 128 and 129 which are hinged together by hinge 130 form still another pair of links. The link 128 is hinged at 131 to the link 123 at the beginning of the extension 126, and the link 129 is 'hinged by pin 132 to the leg rest 8. Link 129 is also hinged at 133 to the link 113 between the hinges 1213 and 127.

The link 118 is hinged at 134 to the support 1 which provides another series of three pairs of links at each side of the seat, interconnected to form three quadrilateral linkages connected together in tandem, with the leg rest 8 forming one end of the lazy tong device and the support forming the other end of it. Thus, when this linkage is operated, it will extend the lazy tong device at each side of the seat and elevate the leg rest from the inactive position shown in FIG. 3 into the leg-supporting position shown in FIG. 4.

The actuating of this lazy tong device is obtained by providing an extension of link 122 upwardly beyond its pivot pin 125 by which the link 122 is hingedto the support 1, and the upper end of this extension is connected by a pivot pin 135 to one end of a link 136, the other end of which is connected to a pin 137 which connects the lug on the lower edge of the seat to the link 115. With this arrangement, when the seat and back rest are moved rearwardly from the FIG. 3 to the FIG. 4 position, the link 115 will rock rearwardly at its upper end and thus pull on the link 1% which is connected to the link 122 of the lazy tong device, and thus the lazy tong device will be operated to elevate the leg rest whenever the seat and back rest are moved rearwardly into their tilting positions. When the seat and back rest are returned-to their forward or sitting position shown in FlG. 3, the lazy tong device will retract the leg rest 8.

In all of the figures it will be understood that there is one of these lazy tong arrangements at each side of the seat so as to provide a stable mounting for the leg rest 8, and that suitable stops or means (not shown), may be employed to limit the tilting movements of the seat and back rest.

In the example shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2a, the links 92 and 93 form the first pair, the links 88 and 89 form the second pair, and links 97 and 93 form the third pair. The extension of at least one link of a pair refers to the extension 97E of link 97 and the extension 103 of the link 93.

In both illustrated embodiments of the invention, the seat and back rest are rigidly connected together and hence the movement of the seat is controlled directly by the movement of the seat and back rest. The seat and back rest in FIGS. 1, 2, and 2a are supported by the links 84- above the pivot 35 and by the links 1%7. These two links 84 (above and 1117 at each side of the Seat are connected at their lower ends by the frame, through pivot 85 and lug 1t), and are connected at their upper ends by the seat 5. The frame acts as a bar connecting the lower ends of links 84 and 107 and the seat acts as another bar that connects the upper ends of the same links 84 and 107. Thus at each side of the seat there is a four bar linkage supporting the seat from the frame in which the seat 5 and links 84 and 1d"! are the movable links. This four bar linkage actuates that part of link 84 which depends below pivot 85 and which is connected by actuator link 87 to one of the links of the lazy tong device that is connected to the frame 1, such as the link 88 between its pivot 91 and the first pivotal connection of link 88 to any link of the lazy tong device. The links $4, 87 and 88 and the frame form another four bar linkage which forms an actuating linkage for the leg rest control linkage from the first mentioned four bar linkage formed of the seat, links 34, 197 and the frame. This arrangement of two interconnected sets of four bar linkages at each side of the seat provides control of the acceleration of the leg rest 'to advance and elevate it from its stored position below the front of the seat to its leg supporting position in dependance on the seat and back rest movement. This gives a quicker elevation for the leg rest useful where the amount of tilt of the seat and back rest is rather small. This smaller tilt of the seat and back rest is with full advance of the leg rest useful by those who wish to recline only a minimum amount when watching television.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 4a, the one four bar linkage includes links 113 and supporting the seat, the seat and the frame forming the other two bars of this linkage. Its other four bar linkage is formed of link 122 above the pivot 125, the link 136, link 115 and frame 1. This other four bar linkage is actuated by the fact that the link 115 is common to both of these linkages. The part of link 122 below its pivot gives the leg rest operating linkage a large acceleration movement as in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2a.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial Number 564,473, filed February 9, 1956, now Patent No. 2,958,371, granted November 1, 1960.

It will be understood that various changes in the details and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An adjustable chair comprising a frame, a back rest and a seat rigidly connected together to act as a unit, a four bar linkage adjacent each side of said seat and supporting said seat and back rest on said frame to tilt between sitting and tilted positions in which linkage said frame and seat form two opposite sides thereof, a leg rest disposed beneath the forward part of the seat, an extensible linkage unit directly connecting said leg rest to said frame and alone constituting complete support of said leg rest from said frame, and actuating means connecting a link of another side of said four bar linkage to said extensible linkage by which the movement of the seat into its tilted position causes operation of said otally connected at corresponding ends directly to said frame and at their other ends to said unit to support said seat and back rest for movement between sitting and tilted positions, additional extensible linkage connecting said leg rest to said frame and completely supporting the leg rest from the frame independently of the seat, normally below said seat when the seat is in its sitting position but operable when extended to advance and elevate said leg rest to a position in front of said seat, and actuating lin'k means connecting one of said pair of links to said extensible linkage and causing an extension of the latter when the seat and back rest are moved into their tilted positions.

3. The chair according to claim 2, wherein the connection between said extensible linkage and said frame at each side of the seat is through two terminal links of the extensible linkage, arranged in spaced apart relation forwardly and rearwardly of the chair and arranged to xtend generally upwardly and downwardly when such inkage is retracted, and said actuating link means is pivoted to one of such terminal links.

4. The chair according to claim 2, wherein said extensible linkage has two terminal links connected to said leg rest at each side of the latter, one of the links of such linkage which is pivoted to one terminal link being extended beyond its connection to an interior link of such linkage, and as extended being pivoted to the other terminal link which is connected to the leg rest, intermediate of the length of such other terminal link.

5. An adjustable chair comprising a frame, a back rest and a seat connected together to form a rigid unit, a basic four bar linkage at each side of the seat supporting said unit from said frame and controlling the movement of this unit between sitting and tilted positions, a leg rest, extensible linkage means at each side of the seat completely supporting said leg rest from said frame and having three of its links and the frame forming another and additional four bar linkage that controls the movement of the leg rest between a position beneath the forward part of the seat and another position in which it is elevated and forwardly of the seat, and means interconnecting the two four bar linkages for causing elevation of the leg rest when said unit is moved into its tilted position,

6. An adjustable chair comprising a frame, a back rest and a seat connected to form a rigid unit, a control mechanism arranged in said chair to support said unit on said frame and to control the movement of this unit between sitting and tilted positions, a leg rest, said leg rest being actuated by said control mechanism in coordination with said movement of said unit, additional means completely supporting said leg rest from said frame and controlling the path of movement of said leg rest in relation to the rest of said chair so that the leg rest moves from a stored position below the front of said seat to a leg supporting position in front of said seat, said control mechanism having three generally horizontal links and three generally vertical links, one of said horizontal links being said frame and thereby forming a stationary support, another of said horizontal links being said seat and thereby forming a movable body supporting means, the third horizontal link forming an actuating link and thereby forming another movable link of said mechanism, one of said vertical links having pivotal connections with each of said horizontal links, each of the other two of said vertical links being pivoted at their ends to two of the horizontal links, one of said pivots on each of said two vertical links being on the same horizontal link, the other of said pivots being on the two other of said horizontal links, one of said other two of said vertical links having an operative connection to said additional means supporting said leg rest.

7. An adjustable chair comprising a frame, a back rest and a seat rigidly connected together to act as a unit, a pair of links at each side of the chair spaced apart in a direction forwardly and rearwardly of the chair, disposed generally upright, with the forward one of each said pair of links longer than the rear one of that pair, the upper ends of all of said links being pivoted to said unit and forming its sole support, and said links below said unit being pivoted to said frame, with the said links, unit and frame forming a four bar linkage at each side of said chair that supports said unit for movements of bodily translation between a sitting position Where said links are generally upright and a rearwardly and reclining position in which said links are upwardly and rearwardly inclined, and said unit is bodily moved rearwardly from its sitting position, a leg rest disposed beneath the forward part of the seat, with a face normally somewhat upstanding, an extensible fourbar linkage at each side of the chair connecting said leg rest to said frame and forming the sole support for the rest on the frame independently of said unit, and efiective when extended to elevate said leg rest to a position in front of andspaced from said seat, and actuating means connecting one of said pairs of links to said extensible linkage for causing an extension of said extensible linkage to elevate said leg rest when said unit is moved into its reclining positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,497 Luckhardt Oct. 28, 1952 2,672,919 Luckhardt Mar. 23, 1954 2,750,988 Luckhardt June 19, 1956 2,760,554 Lorenz Aug. 28, 1956 2,781,825 Lorenz eb. 19, 1957 2,914,113 Fletcher Nov. 24, 1959 2,921,624 Lorenz Jan. 19, 1960 

